BleepingComputer.com: New Gaming Computer

I am going to build my first computer. I need some suggestions and or help in what I need to buy. This system will only be used for gaming. I am thinking of spending in between $6-700 without perfireals.

I want a full size case and AMD six core processor. (I know a lot of people perfer the intel chip, but they are expensive and I have never had a problem with AMD)(What type of motherboard)
I want Nvidia video card and wonder if I should go with a higher end single card or cheaper dual cards.
I want at least 8 gigs of memory.
I am planning on SSD's. Question is how big do I need to go? Like I said this will be for gaming only, no pictures, music or other programs.
Sound card isn't that important as I play at night and use headset, so not to wake anyone.
I want at least a 750W power supply. I have been told to look at ampage compared to video and cpu.
I don't need blueray or even dvd. Just need a good cdrom.

Any help is much appreciated.

SSD are expensive at the moment, so you rather wait or get a normal hard drive. You have to remember some games don't utilize six core. 6 gigs is really enough for gaming. Your gonna have to buy a DVD drive because the operating system is a DVD not a CD.

If you are going to go AMD you may want one of their GPU's since Nvidia has largely pulled out of nForce chipsets needed for SLI on AMD platforms, at least until the AMD 9 series chipsets, which should have SLI capabilities similar to Intel's X58 chipsets. You also probably don't need 8GB of RAM, unless you do photo and video editing. To get a decent system with quality parts on a $600-$700 with an SSD, six core CPU, and a good GPU probably will not happen. I'm assuming you're in the U.S. and can order from Newegg.

Case: Sentey Burton Extreme Division Tower Case - This is a Full ATX case. Cases can be expensive to ship, so, look for free shipping whenever possible. You could go cheaper, but the shipping costs would make up much of the difference. $109

Motherboard: MSI 890FXA-GD65 AM3 AMD 890FX - Here's the first of a few cutbacks you will probably have to make with this system to get closer to your budget. This is a high-end 890FX motherboard which allows for Crossfire. If you are not going to be using more than one graphics card, you may be better off with an 870 chipset. A good 870 motherboard is the MSI 870S-G46 AM3 AMD 870. You should use Crossfire only with higher-end GPU's as you get more value out of them. Also, until AMD releases their 900 series chipsets, you will not be able to use SLI unless you buy a nForce-based chipset, of which there are very, very few. $129 (Before $15 mail-in rebate)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz - This is a strong quad-core CPU that is unlocked for easy overclocking. Few games use all four cores, even fewer can use six. Six core CPU's should only be considered if you are doing rendering, or other data crunching programs that can use all of the cores. If you really want a six core CPU, the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz is a viable option. If you want to save some cash, the AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz is still a good CPU. AMD is slated to launch their new AM3+ Bulldozer/Zambezi CPU's sometime in June. $139

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W - Corsair makes excellent power supplies and this should be enough for most setups. $109 (Before $15 mail-in rebate)

RAM: GeIL Value PLUS 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - This is a single 4GB stick of DDR3-1333 RAM. If you want more, buy another, though you probably won't need it unless you are working with editing programs or have many, many windows/tabs open at once. $40

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100316L Radeon HD 6790 1GB - Here is where you can really affect your budget. This card is more powerful than a 550 Ti and is considered an entry level mid-range card. Next up the performance ladder is the HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB, which is around the GTX 460 in most games, depending on whether or not the game uses tessellation extensively. The HIS H687F1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB is sort of like an upgraded model of the 6850 and is an upper mid-range part. The next cards are enthusiast-level and are the XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB, MSI R6970-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6970 2GB, and the HIS H699F4G4M Radeon HD 6990 4GB. The 6950 is around the GTX 570 and the 6990 is the fastest single card on the market. $149

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB - Unless you are willing to really exceed your budget even more, you may just want to stick to traditional platter-based hard drives. If you don't care and still want an SSD, the OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB is getting great reviews. $50

ODD: LG DVD±RW SuperMulti Drive Black SATA Model GH22NS50B - You need something to install software, mainly the OS, onto the system using DVD's. That said, this is one of the least expensive drives on the market. $19

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - You need this. $100

Grand Total: $848 (Doesn't include taxes, shipping, and rebates)

You will probably save $30 or so with rebates, and if you scale back some things, you could save a bit more.

I'm gonna modify your list so it does not go over $700.

Case: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition - Mid ATX case. I've bought 3 of these before and this case should do the trick if you on budget. $39.99

Motherboard: MSI 870S-G46 AM3 AMD 870 - DJBPace07's chosen one. $84.99

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz - DJBPace07's chosen one. $139.99

Power supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W - Cutting down cost with a 650W. $89.99

RAM: GeIL Value PLUS 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - DJBPace07's chosen one. $40

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100316L Radeon HD 6790 1GB - DJBPace07's chosen one. $149.99

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB - DJBPace07's chosen one. $49.99

ODD: LG DVD±RW SuperMulti Drive Black SATA Model GH22NS50B- DJBPace07's chosen one. $18.99

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - DJBPace07's chosen one. $99.99

Total: $698.55 including shipping (Does not include taxes and rebates)

Thank you all. I am building to play BF3 when it arrives in November. I am running a duo core with a Nvidia 9400 gt card in a dell slimline case.

Both systems look great and I plan on building around late august-september. Hopefully prices will come down some by then.

Do I really need a six core? I am not sure for BF3 and have not seen the specs as of yet. Will I need it in the next few years or will a quad core be good enough for 3-4 years and if it will be good will the motherboards listed take the six core later if I need it?

Looking at the video cards I might go with the ATI card and spend more on one instead of buying two.

This is my first build and I am not real experienced with this type of thing.

I appreciate the help and will probably have more questions in the future.

Bbamf, on 07 April 2011 - 10:52 AM, said:

I wouldn't bank on that.

See how it goes with the quad core first.

If you are building around August or September, our list is probably not going to help you much. There may be newer CPU's on the market or better graphics cards at a similar price. You probably do not need a six core CPU, especially with gaming.

Around August or September, AMD and probably Intel will release there new processor which will phase out their current CPU line.

killerx525, on 06 April 2011 - 04:30 PM, said:

As you said SSD are rather expensive at the moment, the better option would be get @ least 4 Samsung Spinpoint F4 320 Gb hard drives in Raid 0 and that gives you more storage as well as equivalent or better throughput of current SSD's and an external HDD to back up them eg. 4x 320= approx 1.5 gb backup 6x320=approx 2gb external backup you can find them here for $42 http://www.excaliberpc.com/600076/samsung-spinpoint-f4-hd322gj-320gb.html or wait for the new Seagate 1Tb/platter hdd and use them in a raid 0

The only reason i don't do Raid is because if the hard drive fails then you would have some problems getting it back up or losing your data. But if you can't wait for the prices for the SSD to go down then go for the Raid option